Of all of the definitions of preaching that have been given, Phillips Brooks’ is still one of my favorites. Preaching, according to Brooks, is “truth through personality.” That’s it. Simple, and yet, profound. Preaching is nothing more than the truth of God’s word mediated through the personality of the preacher. But, then again, it is nothing less than the truth of Gods’ word mediated through the personality of the preacher.
With this in mind, there are two primary components to preaching. First is the Word of God. Unless the Word of God is present and preached, there has not been a sermon. True, you may have made a speech, but if you did not find your inspiration for and talking points from the Bible, you did not deliver a sermon. The Word of God is indispensable. Second, of course, is the personality of the preacher. It is with this personality that we will concern our self here.
When a man stands up to deliver God’s word to a congregation, he had better be sure first and foremost that he has something to say. Secondly, he had better make sure that he says it in his own voice. “The medium is the message,” is the concept that was coined in the 1970s by Mashall McLuhan and later expounded upon in the 1980s by Neil Postman. The idea is that the medium through which any message is communicated is inextricably tied to the message. So, in Postman’s estimation, TV news is a bit of a misnomer because the television is primarily a source for entertainment. As such, any “news” that comes across it must be engaging and entertaining, thus diluting or otherwise changing the “news” so as to engage an audience.
The importance of the medium through which a message is delivered is never more important than in the act of preaching. Pastor, in many ways, you are the sermon. Your lifestyle and your delivery of the sermon affect the willingness of others to listen. Further, the authenticity of your message will be judged based on the perceived authenticity of your delivery. The congregation wants to know if you actually believe what you are saying and they will judge your level of belief based on what they know of you outside of the pulpit and of what they can perceive of your personality within the pulpit.
With this in mind, you will struggle to show yourself authentic until you learn to preach with your own voice.
A common struggle for young preachers is the struggle to find their own voice or style. As a young preacher myself, I wasn’t sure what kindof preacher I wanted to be. There were many that I looked up to, some that I even idolized in those young days, and I wondered at times how I might preach like they do. I wanted to preach with the passion of John Piper, the studiousness of John MacArthur, the rhythm and style of E. V. Hill, the power of Voddie Baucham, and the results of Billy Graham. In those early days, I listened to Vance Havner tapes (yes, cassette tapes) on repeat and poured over Johnny Hunt’s sermons. I read books and attended seminars and conferences, and all of this with sometimes disastrous results.
In my teen years when I began to preach, all I knew to do was to model my sermons after those I’d heard my pastor preach. Later, as I began to study, grow, and branch out to other places I walked away from mimicking him and instead began to mimic others. Because I’m ADHD, I never stuck with one role model too long. I’d be moved by one sermon and determine that at my next opportunity I’d preach like that guy. Then, I’d pick up a new book or a new CD and decide, “no, I need to preach like that.”
The problem? I am not Johnny Hunt, Vance Havner, or Don Wilton. And I’m certainly not E. V. Hill. Many of my sermons failed to connect. It wasn’t always because my exegesis was bad (though sometimes it was), often it was because I was preaching with someone else’s voice. The Word of God was present in my sermons, but it wasn’t being mediated through my personality, it was being filtered through several different personalities and then spit out of my mouth. Rather than preaching, I had become something of an impersonator. The sermons didn’t have power because they were not authentic, they were not believable.
I needed to find my own preaching voice. I needed to preach the Word of God in a way that fit my personality and thus seemed believable to all who heard it. I wear boots and drive a truck and in many ways my sermons need to drive a truck and wear boots.
I have a buddy who plays tennis and drives a Prius. He’s a great preacher, but if I tried to preach his sermon, it would come across as fake and forced. I can’t fold myself into a Prius, and I will look just as awkward trying to fold myself into his sermon.
Do he and I preach a different gospel? Absolutely not, but we do preach the glorious gospel of Christ in different ways. His illustrations may be about his latest tennis match and mine may be about fighting through a double team to sack a quarterback.
Is he wrong? No. But he is not me.
I’m not Chuck Swindoll, and I had to learn that it is OK. God set me apart and called me from my mother’s womb. He knit me together, he knows me, and he has a plan for my preaching. I don’t always understand it. When I listen to my sermons, my voice has a distinct redneck twang to me, but it is the voice that God gave me and it is the voice that he intends me to use to proclaim his Word. For me to be effective and authentic as a preacher, I have to proclaim God’s word with power and passion, but I have to do it as Craig Thompson. My sermons have to wear boots and drive a truck.
You have to find your voice too. You are not called to be Craig Thompson (you should rejoice in that). If God has called and gifted you to preach, then he expects you to preach in yourvoice. Moses had concerns about that. He didn’t like his voice, but God gave him words anyway (yes, I know, he gave him Aaron too, but let’s not focus on that part). Peter was a fisherman, and yet God used his voice to preach the greatest sermon in the history of the Christian church. Legend has that Jonathan Edwards may have been soft-spoken and read directly from his sermon manuscripts, but the passion of his preaching fueled the Great Awakening. Edwards’ style would be lambasted in a homiletics class today, but it was his voice, and God used that voice mightily.
At the same time, God was using another voice. The voice of George Whitefield has never been suggested to be quiet. He spoke to tens of thousands of people at one time with passion and fervor. Thousands were saved under his preaching. He and Jonathan Edwards fueled the Great Awakening by preaching with their own voices.
But how do you find your voice? First, be consumed with Christ. The preacher that sees lives changed is one whose voice is molded and shaped by the gospel of Christ. It was Whitefield who said, “We can preach the gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts.” To ensure that your preaching “voice” is pregnant with the gospel be consumed with Christ.
Second, pray for God to grant you comfort in the pulpit and wisdom as you try to find your style. Often, we imitate others because we are uncomfortable with our own abilities and unwilling to trust fully in Christ’s call. Pray for comfort, but also recognize that if God has called you, he will equip you. Pray for comfort and trust in God’s provision. As the old saying goes, he doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.
Third, prepare. Do you want to be comfortable in your own skin behind the pulpit, walk into the pulpit confident in what you are going to say? I’m not suggesting that you not lean on the Holy Spirit, what I am saying is that you should do the hard work of sermon prep before you stand in front of a congregation. As you prepare you sermon, and wrestle with the syntax and rhythm, you’ll soon discover that you are actually formulating your voice in your study. Much of the preaching voice is found seated behind your study desk rather than standing behind the sacred desk. Practice your sermon. If you are a new preacher, preach your message in front of a mirror (honestly, I’ve never been able to do this, but maybe you can) or record yourself and play it back. If you have access to the place where you will be preaching, stand behind the pulpit and practice to an empty sanctuary. I still enjoy practicing my scripture reading out-loud into an empty room. Recite your sermon in the car or to your wife—if she’s like mine, she will have no problem telling you if you don’t sound like yourself. As you practice your preaching, you voice will begin to emerge.
Finally, preach. You can practice all day long, but you’ve got to be able to do it when the lights come on. When it is all said and done, you will have to find your preaching voice behind the pulpit in front of congregations. This means that early in your ministry you will need some patient saints, but you will get better. If you are blessed to be looking for your preaching voice while serving on staff in a local church, ask your pastor for help and constructive criticism. My greatest blessing as a young preacher was to have pastors who were willing to lovingly correct my preaching and urge me in proper directions. The more you preach, the more comfortable you will get with your preaching voice.
The medium is the message. No one wants to hear you stand up and give a Billy Graham impression. You’re not Billy Graham. But, you can preach God’s word. He has called you and gifted you. He’s set you apart for this sacred task. You don’t have to be anyone else, just be you, the man that God has called. Trust that he knew what he was doing when he gave you this task, and go preach his word with your voice.
